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The Oxford Dictionary of New Words

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article also coined the term brat packer for a member of the original Hollywood brat pack; this, too, is used more widely to refer to members of other brat packs, from professional tennis players to young, successful authors.

The Brat Packers act together whenever possible.

New York 10 June 1985, p. 42

Border hit back at an Indian newspaper report, which dubbed the Australian cricket team a 'brat pack', notorious for uncouth behavior.

Brisbane Telegraph 21 Oct. 1986, p. 2

Young guns. A new generation rediscovers an old genre: brat-packers Estevez, Sutherland, Sheen and Lou Diamond 'La Bamba' Phillips in a rollicking re-run of the Billy

The Kid legend.

Q Mar. 1989, p. 119

break-dancing

noun Also written breakdancing or break dancing (Lifestyle and Leisure) (Youth Culture)

A very individualistic and competitive style of dancing, popularized by Black teenagers in the US, and characterized by energetic and acrobatic movements performed to a loud insistent beat; abbreviated in the slang of those who dance it to

breaking.

Etymology: Formed by compounding: the dancing that was developed specifically to fill the break in a piece of rap music (i.e. an instrumental interlude during which the DJ would be busy mixing, sampling, etc.). In Jamaican English, to broke up has meant 'to wriggle the body in a dance' since at least the fifties; in the Deep South of the US a breakdown has been the name for a riotous dance or hoedown (with an associated verbal phrase to break down) since the middle of the nineteenth century, but the connection between rap music and the

development of break-dancing in New York was so close that these older dialectal uses are unlikely to have had much influence.

History and Usage: This style of dancing was pioneered during the late seventies by teams of Black teenage dancers (notably the 'Rock Steady Crew') on the streets of the south Bronx area of New York; each team (or crew) worked in parallel with graffiti artists, and the combination of music, art, and street entertainment that they developed formed the core of the new

Black street culture called hip hop. By 1982 the phenomenon had been taken up by the press and widely publicized (to such an extent that by the mid eighties there was talk of over-exposure

in the media and breaksploitation, an alteration of the more familiar word blaxploitation 'exploitation of Blacks'). To connoisseurs, breaking is only one of a number of styles of movement making up the highly competitive dance culture; others include body-popping, the lock, and the moonwalk. In breaking itself, dancers spin on the ground, using the body like a human top, and pivoting on a shoulder or elbow, the head, or the back. The craze quickly spread to other parts of the world and began

to lose its association with Black culture. The noun break-dancing was quickly followed by the verb break-dance (simply break in Black slang use) and both these forms also exist as nouns; a person who break-dances is a break-dancer (or breaker).

While Freddy lays down chanting, talking, rhythmic rap, the Break Dancers break, trying to out-macho one another. They jump in the air and land on their backs, do splits and flip over.

Washington Post 4 June 1982, Weekend section, p. 5

They are young street dudes, nearly all of them black, anywhere from 10 to 23 years old, and what they are doing is a new style of dancing known as 'breaking' or 'break dancing'.

Daily News 23 Sept. 1983, p. 18

In Leningrad the Juventus Health and Sports Club has activities from Aikido wrestling, skateboarding and break-dancing to tennis.

The Times 5 Apr. 1989, p. 46

It seems any moment they will break from this 4,000-year-old tradition and spin off into a lively breakdance.

Burst of Excitement (California Institute of Technology) Mar. 1990, p. 3

briefcase (Lifestyle and Leisure) (Music) see ghetto blaster

brilliant adjective (Youth Culture)

In young people's slang: great, fantastic, really good. Often abbreviated to brill.

Etymology: A weakening of the original meaning (in much the same way as great, fantastic, etc. had been weakened by earlier generations of young people), followed in the case of brill by clipping of the ending (like the earlier fab etc.)

History and Usage: Although the literal meaning of brilliant is 'shining brightly', the adjective had been used figuratively for two centuries and more before being taken up as a cult word by young people; these earlier figurative uses often described some kind of spectacle, or a person with abnormal talents. From about the end of the 1970s, though, brilliant began to be used to express approval of just about anything. When used in this way, it is sometimes pronounced as a three-syllable word with the primary stress shifted to the final syllable: /--/. Brill

appeared in the early eighties. Both are considered a little dated by the very young, but they still seem to be going strong in comics and children's television programmes.

I allowed Pandora to visit me in my darkened bedroom. We had a brilliant kissing session.

Sue Townsend The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1984), p. 15

I think your magazine is brill.

Music Making July 1987, p. 11

brilliant pebbles

plural noun Also written Brilliant Pebbles (War and Weaponry)

A code-name for small computerized heat-seeking missiles designed to intercept and destroy enemy weapons; part of the US Strategic Defense Initiative (or Star Wars). Also, the

technology used to produce these.

Etymology: One of a series of names making a word-play out of the idea of smart weaponry. The largest, heaviest, and least intelligent weapons (see intelligent°) were spoken about by scientists as moronic mountains, smaller and more intelligent ones as smart rocks (a term coined by SDI chief scientist Gerald Yonas: see smart), and yet smaller and smarter ones as brilliant pebbles; a fourth category in the series was savant sand.

History and Usage: Brilliant pebbles were the idea of US scientist Lowell Wood, who proposed in 1988 that existing smart-rocks technology could simply be 'shrunk' to smaller weapons. Work then started on developing brilliant pebbles in place of the space-based interceptor originally planned for Star Wars. Their brilliance is explained by the fact that each would carry a microchip frozen to superconducting temperatures and as powerful as a supercomputer.

The SDI organization has funded assembly of brilliant pebbles hardware at the laboratory, and tests to demonstrate the concept are planned in the near future.

Aviation Week 11 July 1988, p. 37

The Pentagon has been pushing the smart rocks, while Congress has been championing the ground-based missiles. Mr Edward Teller advocates 'brilliant pebbles'.

Economist 4 Feb. 1989, p. 44

Brixton briefcase

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) (Music)

In British slang, the same thing as a ghetto blaster. (Considered by some to be racially offensive.)

Etymology: For etymology and history, see ghetto blaster.

The other five had on their laps large stereo portable radios which, I believe, are colloquially spoken of as Brixton briefcases.

The Times 22 July 1986, p. 13

Frank asked someone to fetch his briefcase from his car...but...all they could see was a ghetto blaster. So they went back and told Frank. 'That WAS my briefcase man--my Brixton briefcase,' said Frank.

Fast Forward 28 Mar. 1990, p. 6

broker-dealer

(Business World) see big bang

2.9 BSE...

BSE

abbreviation (Health and Fitness) (Lifestyle and Leisure)

Short for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, an incurable viral brain condition in cattle which causes nervousness, staggering, and other neurological disorders, and eventually results in death. Known colloquially as mad cow disease.

Etymology: The initial letters of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. Bovine because it affects cattle; spongiform in that it produces a spongy appearance in parts of the brain

tissue; encephalopathy is a word made up of Greek roots meaning 'disease of the brain'.

History and Usage: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy was first identified in the UK in 1986, and quickly started to affect a considerable number of cattle in different parts of the country. The discovery in May 1990 that it was possible for it to be transmitted to cats, possibly through pet foods containing brain tissue or offal from cattle, led to international public concern over the safety of British beef for human consumption. The disease has a long incubation period--a number of years--so it was difficult for experts to be sure that no cases in humans

would occur in the future; but a government inquiry found that it was extremely unlikely. Steps were taken to ensure that meat from affected cattle did not enter the food chain, and the

public panic over beef began to die down.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) twists the tongues of vets and wrecks the brains of cows. It is also new and baffling. Since the first case of the disease was diagnosed in December 1986, it has struck down 120 animals from 71 herds.

Economist 14 Nov. 1987, p. 92

The disease in cows is similar to Scrapie which occurs in sheep, and it's possible that BSE may have been transferred to cattle from sheep.

Which? Sept. 1989, p. 428

BSE-free (Health and Fitness) (Lifestyle and Leisure) see -free

2.10 B two (B2) bomber

B two (B2) bomber

(War and Weaponry) see Stealth

2.11 bubblehead...

bubblehead

(People and Society) see airhead

buddy noun and verb (Health and Fitness) (People and Society)

noun: Someone who befriends and supports a person with Aids (see PWA) by volunteering to give companionship, practical help, and moral support during the course of the illness.

intransitive verb: To do this kind of voluntary work. Also as an action noun buddying.

Etymology: A specialized use of the well known American sense

of buddy, 'friend'. The American film Buddies, released quite early in the Aids era (1985), was surely influential in popularizing this specialized use.

History and Usage: For several generations children in the US have been encouraged to follow the buddy system--never to go anywhere or take part in any potentially dangerous activity alone, but to take a buddy who can bring help if necessary; a similar practice is followed by adults in dangerous situations. The scheme to provide buddies for people with Aids, started in late 1982 in New York, is an extension of that system, recognizing that these people need friendship that is often denied them once they are diagnosed as having the condition.

Our greatest priority is to ensure that no person who has contracted an AID related disease is without some kind of personal support...It is therefore our aim to create a buddy system.

New York Native 11 Oct. 1982, p. 14

I suppose the book wouldn't have been written if I hadn't buddied, because I wouldn't have had a sense of knowing the reality of Aids.

The Times 29 June 1987, p. 16

When one of the members crossed the Rubicon from HIV to Aids, Helpline always appointed two or three buddies to 'see the person through'.

Independent 21 Mar. 1989, p. 15

bum-bag noun Also written bumbag or bum bag (Lifestyle and Leisure)

A small pouch for money and other valuables, attached to a belt and designed to be worn round the waist or hips; a British name for the fanny pack.

Etymology: Formed by compounding; skiers wear them with the pouch to the back, above the bottom (the ' bum'), although as fashion accessories they are normally worn with the pouch in front, where the contents can best be protected from

pickpockets.

History and Usage: The bum-bag has been well known to skiers, motorcyclists, and ramblers for some decades as a useful receptacle for sandwiches, waterproofs, and other bits and pieces; being worn round the waist, it leaves the hands free. In the late eighties the bum-bag made the transition from a piece

of sports equipment to a fashion item: perhaps because of the risk of bag-snatching in busy city streets, it became

fashionable to wear a bum-bag for shopping and everyday use, and in 1990 it was considered one of the main fashion 'accents' in

the UK. As such, it is probably only a temporary item in the more general language.

The most brilliant accessory is the bum-bag. Slung around the waist, it doubles as a belt and a secure place for valuables.

Indy 21 Dec. 1989, p. 21

buppie noun Also written Buppie or buppy (People and Society)

A Black urban (or upwardly-mobile) professional; a yuppie who is Black.

Etymology: Formed by substituting the initial letter of black for the y- of yuppie (see yuppie).

History and Usage: The word buppie was invented by the US media in 1984 as one of several variations on the theme of yuppie.

Unlike some of the others--such as guppie, juppie (a Japanese yuppie), and puppie (a pregnant yuppie)-- this one caught on: perhaps this was because it identified a distinct group which was obviously rejecting its 'roots' culture in favour of the values and aspirations of a yuppie peer group.

Bryant Gumbel and Vanessa Williams are both Buppies. Of course, it wouldn't be Yuppie to be Miss America unless you are the first black one.

People 9 Jan. 1984, p. 47

Old Harrovian and self-confessed buppie, with a

fifth-in-a-row hit, Danny D's entrepreneurship is about to go global.

Evening Standard 1 May 1990, p. 34

burn-bag noun (Politics)

In the jargon of US intelligence, a container into which classified (or incriminating) material is put before being destroyed by burning. Also sometimes known as a burn-basket.

Etymology: Formed by compounding: a bag or basket for what is to be burned.

History and Usage: The word has been used in US intelligence circles since at least the sixties, but did not come to public notice until the political scandals of later decades: first Watergate (1972) and then the Iran-contra affair (1986: see contra). In relation to these two incidents it was used especially to refer to the means which allowed prominent politicians to dispose of incriminating documents allegedly linking them with the scandal; the chairmen of relevant inquiries could not then require them to be produced.

'I frankly didn't see any need for it at the time,' he [John Poindexter] said of the document, known as an intelligence finding. 'I thought it was politically embarrassing. And so I decided to tear it up, and I tore it up, put it in the burn basket behind my desk.

New York Times 16 July 1987, section A, p. 10

burn-out noun Frequently written burnout (Health and Fitness)

Physical or emotional exhaustion, usually caused by stress at work; more generally, apathy, disillusionment, or low morale. Also as an intransitive verb burn out, to suffer from this kind of stress exhaustion; adjective burned (or burnt) out.

Etymology: A noun formed on the verbal phrase burn oneself out, meaning 'to use up all one's physical or emotional resources';

the noun burn-out already existed in the more literal sense of the complete destruction of something by fire, as well as in two

technical senses.

History and Usage: The burn-out syndrome, which is thought to be a direct result of the high-stress lifestyles of the past two decades, was first identified and named in the mid seventies by American psychotherapist Herbert J. Freudenberger. Once the preserve of those in jobs requiring a high level of emotional commitment (such as charity work, medicine, and teaching), burn-out soon started affecting professional sportspeople, executives, and entertainers, too. In the late eighties, the

word remained very fashionable, taking over from the more old-fashioned terms depression (imprecise except as a clinical term) and nervous breakdown (for cases of complete burn-out).

The most moderate form of burnout occurs when the sufferer endures a heavy stressload.

Management Today July 1989, p. 122

She may find herself trapped into trying to please everybody and do everything, failing to set boundaries to her role, which leads to chronic overwork and burn-out.

Nursing Times 29 Nov.-5 Dec. 1989, p. 51

Addled with divorce headaches and postBorn burnout, Cruise isn't doing press; but would you like to talk to Don and Jerry, perhaps?

Premiere June 1990, p. 92

burster noun (Science and Technology)

A machine for separating or bursting continuous stationery (such as computer listing paper) into individual sheets.

Etymology: Formed by adding the agent suffix -er to burst; originally, a burster was a charge of gunpowder for bursting a shell.

History and Usage: The word has existed in the technical jargon of office machinery since the fifties, but has only become

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